Contact your local candidates in the upcoming provincial election to make them aware of the issues, then encourage them to commit to supporting policies that will make home ownership in Ontario more affordable.

Visit keepthedreamalive.ca for all the details, including how to contact your local candidates; OREA can help you make a difference in the June 7 provincial election.

If the plant is marijuana and it is being grown indoors, as will likely be allowed by pending federal legislation, the answer may be “plenty”. Growing marijuana indoors can lead to the growth of mold and fungus, which can pose serious health risks for anyone living in the property. These effects are not limited to massive grow ops; with the suggested maximum of four plants, the light and heat from the lamps needed by the plants can cause dangerous levels of mold and fungus.

This is a serious issue for REALTORS® who will be called on to list or sell properties which may be damaged by marijuana grown either legally (once legislation is approved) or illegally.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) developed a five-point Action Plan for Cannabis Legalization for the Province to consider as it decides how to manage legalized marijuana. The recommendations in the plan focus on the effects of indoor marijuana plants on homes, home owners and home buyers, and includes proposals for dealing with illegal grow operations as well as legal plants. OREA unveiled their plan at a press conference at Queen’s Park on Monday, April 9, 2018.

Please visit www.ProtectOntarioHomes.ca to learn all about OREA’s Action Plan for Cannabis Legalization, the issues with growing marijuana indoors, and how you can support OREA’s plan by writing to your MPP.

The pace of change in real estate has never been faster. Technology disruption. New entrants in the market. More connected consumers. What does that mean for your business? Learn about all this and more at OREA’s REALiTY Conference from Tuesday, February 27, 2018 – Thursday March 1, 2018.. Click here to learn more.

The three-part OREA Form 200 Listing Agreement: Seller Representation Agreement Authority to Offer forSale will be available for sale in the Realty Shoppe early in the new year. Contact the Shoppe at realtyshoppe@rahb.ca or 905-529-5979 to place your order.

We will let you know when the 2018 OREA form updates are available on WEBForms™.

If you are interested in attending an in-class session about what forms have been updated and what’s new, check out the RAHB education calendar for the upcoming session: “2018 Forms & Clause Revisions Update”.

The EMERGE Conference Series is a one-day professional development event designed to help REALTORS® grow their business with practical ideas. Join OREA as they discuss the most current sales practices, and sit in on presentations from industry experts and top-performing REALTORS®! For more information, visit:https://www.orea.com/Professional-Development/Conferences/Emerge-Regular

Did you know that OREA is leading the charge to modernize REBBA 2002, and they want to hear from you?

The first phase of the review of REBBA 2002 addressed the Province’s interest in banning double-ending real estate transaction. The Ontario Real Estate Association sent the message to Queen’s Park that REALTORS® are interested in higher standards in the real estate profession and that a complete ban on double-ending would not be productive. OREA’s submission was prepared after consultation with real estate boards and associations across Ontario (RAHB was part of the consultation). Watch for updates on how this plays out legislatively this fall.

In Phase 2, the emphasis will be on re-writing REBBA, and OREA is asking you for your input. This is going to be a complete overhaul of REBBA 2001, and everything is on the table. This is the best chance for you, RAHB and OREA to play a significant role in writing the next, better version of REBBA.

How? Over the next few months, OREA will be posting on its website, REBBAReform.ca, a series of white papers with a number of proposals for what changes should be made to REBBA. You can download the complete white paper, or just read the proposals from it, then provide your feedback directly to OREA. It’s simple, it’s fast, and you’ll keep informed about what is happening.

OREA’s white papers will cover:

August – Enforcement (already posted and ready for your comments!)

September – Continuing Education

October – Entrance Education

November – Code of Ethics

Check out the website today, and have your say in the future of real estate!

Many of the OREA Standard forms are affected by the revisions, including OREA Form 200 Listing Agreement – Authority to Offer for Sale, which now includes a new Electronic Signature clause.

OREA has also updated ‘OREA Forms Explained’, a member’s resource where 44 forms files are annotated to help members understand and use the forms. RAHB will be hosting an OREA Outreach 2017 Forms & Clause Revisions Update education session. The date of the session will be announced on Message of the Day (MOD) as soon as arrangements have been confirmed.

The new 2017 OREA Standard Forms are now available on the OREA website and WEBForms®. Printed forms will be available through the Realty Shoppe in mid-January.

OREA’s newest standard forms tutorial is now available online. The tutorial is a step-by-step video guide about how to complete Form 127, Condition(s) In Offer – Acknowledgement.

The purpose of Form 127 is to confirm that a buyer understands the risks and ramifications of not inserting certain conditions and/or of waiving certain conditions from an offer. The Form 127 tutorial walks you through the form section-by-section, explaining what and where information is required.

OREA’s standard forms tutorials are a new resource created to help you avoid common mistakes and costly errors when you are working with standard forms. Like forms explained documents, the tutorials are a short, practical resource you can use to help them fill out some of the most common forms. If you prefer more hands-on, concrete guidance, you will likely find the tutorials a welcome addition to the forms explained documents.

Congratulations to Sean Morrison (Royal LePage State Realty) on being acclaimed as OREA provincial director! Sean will represent Southern Ontario on the OREA board of directors for a two-year term.

Sean served on the RAHB Board of Directors from 2012-15, and as Vice-President for two years. He also served on numerous committees at RAHB. Sean currently sit as a member on OREA’s Government Relations committee.